Constance Cook, musicologist and pianist, is director of the MGS program. She teaches courses on The American Musical, Leonard Bernstein, Music for the Listener, Musical Creativity in Diverse Cultures, and Music of War and Peace. IU recognition includes the Commission on Multi-Cultural Understanding Faculty Award and the Disability Student Services Award, as well as grants and Arts Week awards. Cook is the co-creator of two summits on the topic of Music, Business, and Peace.
Glenn Gass, Provost Professor and Rudy Professor Emeritus of Music in Music in General Studies, teaches a series of courses that he developed on the history of rock and popular music that were the first to be offered through a music school and are now the longest-running courses of their kind in the world.
Alissa Guntren, music theorist and active pianist, coordinates the music theory courses for MGS, teaches for the music theory department, and has designed an aural and piano skills course for musical theatre majors. In addition to mentoring new music theory faculty in MGS, Alissa has built up enrollment in Z111 and T109. She has interest and training in mindfulness in music, somatic practices, emerging practices, and collaborative leadership.
Andy Hollinden, composer, producer, and performer, focuses on The Blues, Rock ‘n’ Roll History, The Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, and Frank Zappa. He has lectured internationally on Zappa and brought members of The Mothers of Invention, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and The Beach Boys to IU as guest speakers. Hollinden has recorded with numerous rock bands and has released 10 CDs of his original music. He recently received the IU Trustees Teaching Award.
Gabe Lubell, composer, theorist, and astronomer, teaches the music of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and interdisciplinary courses about cosmic imagination and world music. He is currently developing a book about how we experience albums as whole artistic works, has released two albums of his own, regularly presents at international conferences, and recently received national recognition for his work on diversity in music theory course design from SMT.
Additional Faculty
Raoul Carlo (Miggi) Angangco, choral conductor, sopranist, and composer-arranger. He currently sits on the Artistic Board of the acclaimed Philippine male choir ALERON and is an alum of the World Youth Choir and other ensembles of international renown. His choral works and arrangements have been commissioned and performed by choirs from the Philippines and abroad. Dr. Angangco teaches Choral Masterworks for MGS.
Daniel Bishop, musicologist, whose teaching centers around music and film media, with a focus on repertoire–oriented classes that explore media history, style, and aesthetics from a cultural and listener–focused analytical perspective. Dr. Bishop’s central teaching goal is to guide students towards broader, more critically engaged, and aesthetically rich experiences of art.
Rachel Caswell, jazz vocalist and educator, has performed widely in the US and has produced acclaimed recordings both as a soloist and as co leader of the Caswell Sisters Jazz Quintet, bringing a fresh approach to vocal improvisation and popular song interpretation.
Daniel Cueto, composer and flutist originally from Lima, Peru who teaches music theory for MGS. His compositions have been described as “cleverly melding rich traditional Peruvian melodic and rhythmic elements with a contemporary flair, creating a personal style that is both pleasing and accessible to the listener and performer.” To date, his works have been performed in twenty-one countries, including Germany, France, Spain, the UK, Malta, Argentina, Brazil and the USA.
Nathan Davis is an arts leader, accomplished classical musician (cellist) and former music professor with an administrative profile of arts presenter, higher education consortium provost and a government state arts agency executive director. Along with the arts, his background encompasses public policy arenas relating to the law, environment, and healthcare.
Nicole DiPaolo, is a versatile collaborative pianist, educational composer, historical improviser, and teacher. She taught the complete JSoM undergraduate theory/aural skills core as an Associate Instructor before joining MGS. She also runs a thriving online studio specializing in teen and adult beginners and performs widely around Cleveland.
Dena El Saffar, multi–instrumentalist (violin, viola, joza and ‘oud), composer, educator and recording artist has performed throughout the US, Europe, and the Middle East. Dena is the
founder of Salaam (SalaamBand.com), which has released 9 albums, focuses on music of the Arab World, and was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. She teaches Music of the Silk Road.
Hilary Finchum-Sung, ethnomusicologist, focuses on Korean expressive culture, particularly the role of rural practitioners in sustaining performance traditions, sonic embodiment of emotion, music and memory, performance pedagogy, and intercultural music exchange and education. She is a performer of the Korean haegeum and the Euro/American violin/fiddle. She teaches Popular Music of Europe and Asia.
Hilary Glen, cellist and educator, teaches courses on music history, and performs in the Gibbs Street Duo and other chamber ensembles. Dr. Glen is committed to exploring music by under-represented composers.
Scott Grieb, guitarist, musicologist, and composer, teaches American music and songwriting.
Eric Lindsay, award–winning composer, brings several years of experience as a film scorer in Hollywood to MGS, where he teaches film music, remixing, producing EDM, and mixed media. He is also an expert in online course design.
Paul Mahern, has produced and engineered eleven RIAA–certified gold or platinum albums. His credits include Mellencamp, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Iggy, Facebook, Sony, and DreamWorks. He has been a professional musician and producer since he was 16. In 2017, the Indianapolis Star listed Mahern as Indiana’s fifteenth most influential musician.
Sarah McDonie teaches global video games and is fully immersed in innovative technology for teaching and learning.
Oliver Nelson Jr., jazz flutist, teacher, and lecturer, has recorded with several jazz legends, including Benny Golson and Bela Fleck, and presented a variety of jazz workshops and classes.
Alex Ostergard, organist, composer, and video game expert, teaches courses on the music of video games.
Jeremy Podgursky, composer of chamber/orchestral music, film scores, experimental, and even psychedelic indie rock. Jeremy has taught composition, theory, multimedia, history of rock and roll, and electronic music courses at the JSoM and the University of Louisville.
Chris Renk, composer, teaches courses on film and music and multimedia.
Aaron Riedford, musicologist, teaches courses on music history. Dr. Riedford’s areas of specialty include American pop and rock music history as well as the mid-twentieth-century Folk Revival in the United States. He has taught courses of general music history for both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as specific courses focused on the Romantic era, music since 1960, and American music. He also composes film music.
Mary Roosma, vocalist, educator, and Early Music performer, focuses on music from the Medieval and Renaissance eras and its connection to folk music traditions and modern style fusions like folk, medieval rock, and fantasy/historical fiction soundtracks.
Atanas Tzvetkov, guitarist and director of the pre-college guitar program, teaches ukulele and guitar.
Christine Wisch, musicologist, violinist, and educator, specializes in the music of Spain, historiography, and public musicology. A contributor to a forthcoming Cambridge volume on women and musical salons, Dr. Wisch currently teaches Women Musicians for MGS.
Alexis Witt, musicologist specializing in Russian and American music, with a dissertation entitled “Networks of Performance and Patronage: Russian Artists in American Dance, Vaudeville, and Opera, 1909–1947.”
In Memoriam
Aida Huseynova – We are grateful for the contributions that Dr. Huseynova made to Music in General Studies. She will be greatly missed. Read Dean Bush’s statement on her passing.